Boat construction



V. S. DOWNING.

BOAT CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION HLED NOV, 20. 1920.

Patentd Feb. 28, 1922.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

T IIVVE/VTOR r VIP 5. Dowmno. O O

ATTORNEYS V. S. OOWNING.

BOAT CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED Nov 20, 1920.

Patented Feb. 28, 1922.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

INVE/VTUI? 117011 5. Dowm WITNESSES ATTORNEYS 1 UNITED ST -res PATENT eee VIRGIL SIDNEY DOWNING, OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI. D

1 To allwkom it may concern:

Be it known that I, VIRGIL SIDXEY Down- ING, a citizen of the UnitedStates, anda resident of Jackson, in the county of Hinds and State ofMississippi, have invented certam new and useful Improvements in BoatConstructions, of which the following,

is a specification.

'-My invention relates to boat construction,

and a purpose of my invention is the provi sion'of a boat having an airduct and air channels formed in its hull which are so shaped andpositioned as to efiec't a lifting and propelling action to the boatwhenair is forced rearwardly through the duct. The construction of thehull is such that the air as discharged from the duct is caused to provide a film 'of air beneath the rear'end' portion of the boat and uponwhich such portion is adapted to'ride so that in conjunction with thelifting action upon the forward end of the boat by virtue ofthe airtraversing the duct, the boat. a's'anentirety is caused to ridesubstantially upon a film of air. 7 I

I will describe one form of boat embodying my-invention .and will thenpoint out the novel features th'ereof in claims. V, In the accompanyingdrawings;

Figure 1-. is a;view -showing,in itop plan,

with portions partly broken away, one form of boat embodying myinvent1on.

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional vie'wof the boat shown in:Figure 1.

.Figure'3 is a frontend elevation of the boat shown in the precedingviews.

figures ,4, 5, 6, and 7 are transverse vert-i cal sectional views takenon the lines 4-4, 5"5, 6-6 and 7-7 respectively of Figure 2.

Figure 8 is an enlarged 'fragmentarydetail v1ew showing the means forconnecting'or disconnecting the propeller to or fromthe' 7 forward sideof the duct D is formed with motor shaft. 0

Referring specifically to the drawings, my

invention in its present embodiment consists Q of, a hull designatedgenerally at H having a forward round bottom portion hand aflatrearbottom portion h, the latter bottom.

portion being disposed in a plane above that of the forward bottomportion. As shown'in Figures 1 and 2, the hull H is formed centrallythereof with a longitudinally extending duct D through which airis-adapted to be forced in effecting a lifting of the forward end of thehull and a propulsion of the boat.-

Specification of Letters Patent.

BOAT CONSTRUCTION.

Patented Feb; 28, 1922.

Application filed November 20, 1920. Serial No. 425,474. 7

forward end of the duct D is-open for the admission of air thereto andis disposed at the upper end of the bow of the hull so that it 1s at alltimes disposed at a safe distance above the water-line to preclude theentrance of water into theduct. The duct D is inclined rearwa'rdly anddownwardly from its forward end to its rear end, the latter endextending through the bottom of the hull at the confronting ends of thebottom portions 72. and h. As seen in Figure 3, the forward end oftheduct is of substantially rectangular form in cross section. From thispoint rearwardly, the duct gradually increases in cross sectional areauntil it reaches a medial portion indicated at 15. to the rear end ofthe duct the cross sec tional area gradually decreases until the rear oroutlet end of the duct is of an area less than one-half of the area ofthe medial portion 15. This outlet end is adapted to e controlled by adoor 16 hingedly supported upon the hull and provided with a coiledspring 17 which normally urges the door to closed position and-against astop 1850 that the passage of water upwardly intothe duct is preventedBy reference to the vertical sectional views taken: through the hull, itwill be clear that shown in-Figure ,5, and this tubular portion mergesinto a semi-circular portion which is continued to the rear or exit end.of the From this portion duct.f;The exit end of the duct isofsemicircular form as clearly shown. in Figure 6, audit will beunderstood that the door 16 .is of a corresponding shape.

Asshown in Figures 1 and 2, the upper air channels. rect communicationwith the duct D, and through such channels air is admitted to theductfrom its upper side for a purpose which will. be hereinafterdescribed.

As shown in Figures 1 and 2, a gasoline motor M'is supported within themedial placed short pipe sections. 2Q that provide 7 These air channelsare in di- 1 portion of the duct D upon beams 21. The I motor M is ofconventional form and is adapted to drive a propeller P which isvertically positioned within the duct and is adapted to be rotated insuch direction as to force air rearwardly through the duct. The

propeller P is suppofted on a counter shaft 22 which is adapted tdl beoperatively gonnected to the motor shaft through the 'medium of aconventional form of clutch C. The clutch C is actuated by an actuatinglever L operatively connected to the clutch through the medium of a link23 and a lever 24 fulcrumed on a standard 25. The lever L is suitablypositioned in the pit T formed in the hull so asto be readily actuatedby the operator. A steering wheel S is provided which is operativelyconnected through the medium of cables 26 to a water rudder R and an airrudder R bot-h of which are supported for oscillating movement upon ashaft 27. a l

, In the operation of the boat, the propeller P when rotated in theproper direction creates a'draft of air of great intensity rearwardlythrough the duct D, the air entering the duct through the forward endand through the channels. and finally exiting through the rear end ofthe duct, it being understood that the current of air is of sufiicientintensity to swing the door 16 to open positionagainst the tension ofthe spring 17.

lVhen the draft of air traverses the'duct D,

it will be clear that the propeller P functions as an air propeller soas to propel the boat through the water. The air entering the duct Dthrough its forward end and through the air channels impinges upon thewalls of the duct and because of the particular contour of the duct thisdraft of air is caused to impart a lifting action to the forward portionof the'boa-t which as a result elevates theforward end of the'boat clearof the water. As the air is discharged from the rear end of the duct Dit passes beneath the rear bottom end portion h of the hull, and becausethis bottom portion is disposed in a'plane above that ofthe forward endortion h, it will be clear that a film'of an is continuously providedbeneath the bottom h upon which the stern end of the boat is supportedwhen travelling. The lifting action imparted to the forward end of the"boat naturally tends to move the rear endof the boat downwardly, butbecause of the film of air continuously formed beneath the stern end ofthe boat, it will be clear that such dium for the engine. It is to befurther .of the hull at a merging into its tubular speed. Because of thefact that the rearend of the duct D is constricted and curved downwardlyfrom the medial portion, it will be manifest that the action ofthepropeller uponthe body of air so trapped will impart a pronouncedforward movement to the boat, thus providing an air propelling medium ofmaximum power efficiency.

Although I have herein show-n and described only one form of boat.construction embodying my invention, is to be understood that variouschangesand modifications may be made herein without departing from thespirit of the invention or the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

\Vhat I claim is: c

1. A boat including a hull, and an air duct formed in the hull andextending rearwardly and downwardly from the bow end of the hull to andthrough the bottom thereof at a point in the rear of the medial portionof the hull, a motor positioned within the 'duct, and a propellervertically positioned within the duct and operatively c0nnected to saidmotor.

" 2. A boat including a hull, an air duct formed in the hull andextending rearwardly and downwardly of the bow endto and through-thebottom of the hull at :1 point in the rear of the medial portion of thehull, said duct being tapered, from a point mediall of its ends to itsends.

. 3.--A boat including a hull, an air duct formed in the hull andextending rearwardl and downwardly of the bow .end to and t rough thebottom of the hull *at a point in t e rear of the medial portion of thehull, said duct being tapered from a point medially of its ends to itsends, a motor positioned within the duct at its medial portion, and apropeller operatively connected to the motor and vertically positionedwithin the medial portion of the duct. wt. A boat including 33111111,and an air duct extending rearwardly from the boat and downwardly to andthrough the bottom point in the rear of the medial ortion of the hull,said duct bein of angu ar cross section at its forward encfi portion oflarger cross sectlonal-areaat its medial portion and finally terminatingin a semi-tubular portion of smaller cross sectional area at its rearend.

5 A boat including a hull, and an air duct extending rearwardly from theboat and angular cross section at its forward end,

merging into its tubular portion of larger cross sectional area at itsmedial portion and finally terminating in a semi-tubular por tion ofsmaller cross sectional area at its rear end, a motor within the tubularportion, and a propeller operatively connected to the motor andvertically positioned within' the tubular portion.

6. A boat including a hull, an air ductextending rearwardly from theboat and inclined downwardly tofand through the bottom of the hull, anda plurality of air channels formed in he upper wallof the duct andcommunicatlng with the duct.

7. A boat including a hull, an air duct extending rearwardly from theboatand incl' ed downwardly" to and through the bottoi ri of the hull, aplurality of 3.11 channels formed in the upper wall of the duct andcommunicating with the duct a motor in the duct, and a propeller withinthe duct and adapted to be operatively connected to the motor to rotatein a direction to draw air rearwardly through the duct and downwardly ofthe airchannels.

VIRGIL SIDNEY DOWNING.

